Zed R16 vs. Zed 24?

[Sad Iron Studio]

I'm very seriously considering the R16, but I'm wondering if anyone has compared the pres of the other Zed mixers against the R16. It seems like the R24 might be a good compromise if I'm willing to lose midi and transport control and a band of mid eq. I'd gain 4 stereo channels. I could bring my signal out of my 828mkii and till have most of the functionality of the r16, right? I could get a faderport or something and have transport control and a midi fader. the R24has 100mm faders.

But the R24 USB only carries 16 bit, right? Or has that been fixed with a firmware update? that might be a deal killer for the R24

If the pres are of significant lower quality, then I'll go with the R16, but I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with both strata of Zed mixers and can give me a pro/con of the Zed 24.

[roc]

Originally Posted by jasonlewis

I'm very seriously considering the R16, but I'm wondering if anyone has compared the pres of the other Zed mixers against the R16. It seems like the R24 might be a good compromise if I'm willing to lose midi and transport control and a band of mid eq. I'd gain 4 stereo channels. I could bring my signal out of my 828mkii and till have most of the functionality of the r16, right? I could get a faderport or something and have transport control and a midi fader. the R24has 100mm faders.

But the R24 USB only carries 16 bit, right? Or has that been fixed with a firmware update? that might be a deal killer for the R24

If the pres are of significant lower quality, then I'll go with the R16, but I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with both strata of Zed mixers and can give me a pro/con of the Zed 24.

The Zed R-24 isn't out yet you mean the Zed-24.Hopefully A&H will release more info on the R-24 soon, AES anyone.

[Sad Iron Studio]

Originally Posted by roc

The Zed R-24 isn't out yet you mean the Zed-24.Hopefully A&H will release more info on the R-24 soon, AES anyone.

Ahh, geez, Yeah, I meant the straight up Zed 24. Sorry.

[roc]

Originally Posted by jasonlewis

Ahh, geez, Yeah, I meant the straight up Zed 24. Sorry.

I think the price for the R-16 just went down.I think Sound on sound Mag did a
story on it and the reviewer said the pres where just as good as his DAV pre's.

[Sad Iron Studio]

Ultimately, What I've decided it that I don't want a board and a I/O together if I can help it. I have the 828 MKII, which I can get modded by BLA and it's a piece of gear that has done great work for me for years. I'm nervous about replacing that with a first generation piece in the R16. If anything goes wrong, well there's no back up plan.

The Zed-24 seems like a similar piece without the IO and a few other differences. my question is: is it a piece I could use as a front end going into the 828 in a project studio and not run into semi-pro limitations? I'm worried about the difference in pres and the lack of the sweepable mids. Anyone out there own or have used the Zed 24?

Right now my front end is an original Digimax, a Eureka, and a VLZ3 1202. Would the Zed 24 be a move up or a lateral move for me right now?

[Sad Iron Studio]

Anyone?

[FeatheredSerpent]

The digimax converts 2 ways right (8 channel analogue to adat and vice-versa)?

So with the R16 you could come in to the daw through the 828mkII via adat direct for 8 channels, and via the digimax for the other 8 (R16 to digi adat in, digi analogue out to motu analogue in). Extra conversion stage but no biggie, although you lose all your analogue ins.

Better still, if you like the motu gear then trade in your 828mkII and the digimax for an 828mk3 which has 2 sets of adat ports rather than just one, as well as the analogue ins, plus all the dsp on ins and outs.

Adat is tried and tested, (as is FW by the way, you're using an 828mkII!) so I think you don't need to worry so much.

[Synthmeister]

I believe you can record only 2 channels at a time with the USB mixers whereas the Firewire version can record 16 channels simultaneously. Also, I think the pres on the R16 are better quality.

[PeteJames]

Originally Posted by Synthmeister

I believe you can record only 2 channels at a time with the USB mixers whereas the Firewire version can record 16 channels simultaneously. Also, I think the pres on the R16 are better quality.

Can anyone else confirm this? I've been struggling to work out what the difference between them aside from the 24 having more channels. I know one has USB and one had Fw. What makes the R16 more than 3 times the price of the 24? Is it just because FW can handle 16 channels vs usb handling only 2? I know my NI audio 8 soundcard can handle at least 8 mono audio inputs so I can't see that being true of the 24 handling 2 channels at a time.

Could I run my DAW recordings out to the R16, apply EQ and gain, then just record the results on audio in channels et voila - An analogue mixed recording? Could I not do this with a Zed 24, or at least a Zed 24 with a FW interface.